Ade Adesina RSA: Contradictions

About

Sarah Wiseman Gallery is delighted to announce ‘Contradictions’ a solo exhibition by the award -winning artist Ade Adesina. In this ambitious exhibition, Ade is set to reveal a series of new prints which will include collaborative pieces as well as one of his largest lino-cut prints to date. 

His exhibition Contradictions will investigate a range of themes that often appear in his work, such as climate change, migration, global conflict and politics.  Much of Ade’s inspiration comes from global politics, although his work he says, is not political.

His preferred medium is lino-cut. Each work is an intricate, laboriously made narrative image, the artist carving and cutting into the surface to create a relief surface on which the print is made. Ade likes to work intuitively, rather than planning each work, although he will consider tone variation and depth ensuring that ‘every mark makes sense’ to the viewer.

In this latest body of work, Ade returns to a theme from another recent print, ‘Mirage.’ He sees a mirage as representative of ideas that are in plain sight, but hard to grasp or make sense of. Things are happening around the world every day, but like something out of the corner of your eye, you may be aware of it, but it’s beyond our true understanding.  

He has said of his process; ‘I work in a very strange way. Every print, sculpture or painting owns a story; it is like reading a novel. There are different characters coming in at different chapters. I don’t find it interesting knowing where a piece of work is going to end before I begin.’

Buildings and machinery, even cities, appear in scorched deserts; winged sharks circle above in the sky along with dark suns and strange, ominous weather. Contrasting imagery from different cultures makes for intriguing works, his influences ranging from his native Nigeria to recent travels in Italy, Germany and the Scottish Islands. The 'Tree of Life', the African Baobab tree, is a recurring motif, often standing alone as an emblem of survival, depicted completely surrounded by sprawling human civilisation or in a ruined wasteland. In other works, the tree is at the hands of beetle-like machines, cutting and sawing into it. Visually striking and complex, these works urge the viewer to reflect on the past, the present and the future.

"My work is a visual commentary around the ideas of ecology and our ever-changing world. I am fascinated by how the human footprint is affecting our planet. Our world is full of wonderful landscapes and I wish to highlight the continual damage caused through things such as deforestation, the politics of energy consumption, and endangered wild species."

Ade Adesina was born in Nigeria 1980. He is currently a full-time artist based in Aberdeen, Scotland. He studied printmaking at Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, and was elected as a Royal Scottish Academician in 2017. He is a member of the Royal Glasgow Institute of The Fine Art, The London Group and Associate Member Royal Society of Painter-printmakers. He has also Artist in Residence at Eton College & Glasgow Print Studio.

Among other accolades, Ade’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, where he received the London Original Print Fair Prize.